


Far Too Long

by bellamybabe



Series: Tumblr Ask Prompts [1]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Compliant, Future Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-20
Updated: 2016-02-20
Packaged: 2018-05-21 23:41:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6062503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bellamybabe/pseuds/bellamybabe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I was in the mood to write fic and I begged my followers to do so and the lovely <a href="http://watch-you-work-the-room.tumblr.com">watch-you-work-the-room</a> on tumblr sent me this prompt: you're gone for three years and I come home and find you eating my cereal? Are you serious?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Far Too Long

It was truly a miracle that he’d managed to avoid hearing the news. Well, miracle isn’t the right word. Miracle implies that whatever happened was a good thing. Outrage, maybe? Actually, come to think of it, everyone on base had been murmuring excitedly about something. They just didn’t want to seem to murmur to him. So did that make it his fault or theirs? Whatever. Finn tabled the mental discussion he was having with himself for another, less important time. Mainly because Poe Dameron, best pilot in the resistance, the man who helped Finn turn his entire life around, and also the man who broke his heart into itty bitty pieces three years prior, was sitting at the table in Finn’s quarters snacking on Finn’s favorite cereal.

At first, he thought he was definitely hallucinating. It made sense; He didn’t exactly have the best sleeping habits and he had a tendency to throw himself into his work. Maybe his body was finally telling him to go fuck himself. But he knew it was real when he heard a cautious “Hey, buddy.”

Finn stared at him a little longer, waited to speak. The feeling in the room could only be described as tense. He knew he shouldn’t have been mad at Poe. For all he knew, the other man could’ve been held captive for the three years he was gone. He could’ve been tortured mercilessly and on the brink of death the entire time he was gone. The thought crossed his mind and he felt his features soften, but only just a bit, before remembering how much pain he’d been in when he realized that Poe probably wasn’t coming back again. They’d held a funeral and Finn was surprisingly one of the few people in attendance who didn’t cry. In fact, the only reason he even went was because Rey wanted to pay her respects and she couldn’t do it alone.

Sure, he’d held onto hope for as long as he could. For the first year, if anyone even dared to think that Poe was dead, Finn was right there telling them why they were wrong.

_“He was just knocked off course and broke his transmitter. You heard the general, the radio was unresponsive.”_

_“What if he crash landed and needed medical attention? It would probably take a while to get back on his feet.”  
_

_“He’s Poe Dameron. He’d never let himself die without completing the mission.”  
_

Finn couldn’t exactly pin point the moment when he stopped believing, didn’t know precisely when it was that he hardened his heart, but he knew that once he did, it made life easier. Sure, he was still affectionate and friendly with Rey, and he never actively pushed anyone away because it simply wasn’t in his nature, but he did his best to come off as aloof. But now that he was faced with the man who made him the way he is, he felt conflicted.

All he wanted to do was scoop him up in his arms and never let him go, but at the same time he felt it dangerous to let himself fall down that hole again. He’d fallen, hard, all those years ago and was only left with soul crushing emptiness and he knew that now that Poe was back, he was just going to get right back into it and what would happen if he went missing again? If he got shot down for real and they had a body to prove it? Finn didn’t know if he could put himself through that a second time.

Finn had managed to avoid looking at Poe as he struggled with what to do. He didn’t know what to say, if that was even the same Poe that had left him, or if it was a stranger in his body, permanently changed by whatever it was that he had gone through, but he felt his eyes shoot up at the sound of his own name being spoken by a now standing Poe.

If there had been any doubt as to whether this was the Poe he’d known, it was all erased the second he looked into the pilot’s eyes. He saw a familiar warmth in them, the fondness that he used to see, the steady gaze that used to make him squirm. Suddenly, without having decided to, he found himself taking one step, then another, until he was standing in front of Poe, who just stared at him, searching his eyes desperately.

Without another word, Finn’s arms were around him, holding tightly, Poe squeezing back even tighter. Finn buried his nose in the crook of the other man’s neck, taking in the scent that he’d been missing for three years and feeling at home. They stood like that for several minutes, neither of them planning on letting go of the other, and Finn wished time would stop moving so he could revel in this moment for the rest of his life.

“Welcome home, buddy.”

**Author's Note:**

> I realize now, several hours after I posted this fic on tumblr that I forgot to actually use the phrase in he prompt but we can ignore that, can't we? If you enjoyed this, feel free to leave kudos or a comment or tell me over on [my tumblr](http://johnlaurenses.tumblr.com) ! Thanks for reading :)


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